Glass-furnace.



* w. w. PILKINGTON, DECD.

S. L.. R. A. 61 A. C. PILKINGTON, EXECUTORS.

GLASS FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. 1912.

1,1545052. PatentedSept. 21, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. W. PILKINGTON, DECD.

s. l... n. A. a A. c. PILKINGTON. EXECUTORS.

GLASS FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. a. 1 912.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

2% 20 w I1w;aZ-

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 10-. WAllllNu'roN. D. c.

' the form, for

WILLIAM WINDLE PILKINGTON, OF PRESCOT, ENGLAND; sABrAfi LoUls A PILKING'TON,

AND ALFRED CECIL PILKINGTON, EXECUTO I v PILKINGTON, DECEASED, ASSIGNOB-S '10 PILKINGTO'Nf'ii' I l '1' RICHARD AUSTIN PILKINGTON, SAID WILLIAM WINDLE BROTHERS, LIMITED, OF 'ST. HELENS, ENGLAND;

GLASS-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 8, 1912. Serial No. 682,372.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WINDLE PiLmNG'roN, a subject of the. King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at The Hazels, Prescot, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Glass-Furnaces, of which the following-is a specification.

This invention relates to that kind of furnace which is usedto keep hotthe pots from which glass is drawn. In the usual method of drawing glass in instance, of cylinders, a cir-v cular pothaving a cavity on its upper and lower sides respectively'is employed. This pot is mounted in a furnace in such a way that it can be turned over. A charge of molten glass is poured into the upper cavity of the pot, and from this molten mass a cylinder of glass is drawn in any wellknown manner.

The function of the furnace is to keep the glass in the pot as nearly as possible at a. uniform temperature during the operation of drawing glass.

With the arrangement just described, the flames of the furnace come into contact with the cavities of the pot or the glass in them, with the lower cavity directly, and with the upper cavity by leakage around the edges of the pot. Now, it has been found that with ordinary producer gas, such as is generally employed for heating furnaces of the abovenamed kind, dirt, consisting of tar, carbon and other impurities, is deposited in the cavities of the pot or on the glass, and has an injurious effect on the surface .of the glass drawn. It has been found that the dirt ordinarily carried in suspension in the gas does not deposit on the pot, because it is burnt up in the furnace before reaching the pot. The dirt is however deposited in the passages leading to the furnace and, when the deposit becomes too thick, lumps of it become detached and are carried into the furnace. These lumps aretoo large to be completely burnt up before reaching the pot, and portions of them are deposited in the pot cavities. To avoid the deposition in the pot of the dirt reaching the furnace in this way, the deposit of dirt in the passages must either be removed before it becomes so thick as to be detached, or the deposition in the passages "must be pre-, vented.

This invention passages is so much retarded that .the furnace need be stopped for cleaning only at long intervals, deposited may be burnt away.

In the accompanying drawings, is a horizontal section of line A A of Fig. 2 showing in the outlet passages. tion on the line B B of Fig. 1. a vertical section through nace on the line C C of Fig. 2, as viewed from the left-hand side of that figure. .Fig. 3 is a vertical section along the line C C of Fig. 2 viewed showing only Figure 1 dotted. lines l is a View similar to Fig. 3 showing a modi- [175 Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawfled form of the invention.

of passages: inthe fol sages 6 and 7 can be connected supply conduit 8, by the valve 9. Whenfth'i valve is in the position in which it is show, in the drawings, the passage 6 is connected to the supply conduit 8 while thepass" 7 is shut off from any flow of gas. N it is found that, if the supply '0 g 1 to the furnace by the passages 6 and nately, one passage remaining idle while the other supplies gas, the amount of dirt which or whereby such dirt -.as is.

from the left-hand m the inlet passages, and -e figures are used to reference will be mad I to one set only. Either of the two gas pas" Patented. Sept. 21,

consists jin improved f means whereby the deposit of dirt in the" a furnace on the Fig. 2 is a vertical sec- 7 Fig. 2 is i the complete fur- 3 are two outlet 3* is the outlet for glass in the l, l are two'air; from the air supply confour gas passages lead-' otherwise would be deposited in the gas pa'ssages is very much reduced, and that thereby necessary to clean out only at rare intervals if at all. The vertical portions of each pair of passages 6 and 7 the passages" accumulations of instead of being arranged one behind the other in the same longitudinal Figs. land 2, may, if desired, be arranged one beside the other in the same transverse plane. The length of the intervals between successive operations of the valve ,9, depends on the amount of dirt in the gas, and on other circumstances, and is best found by trial. In an experimental furnace, intervals of 15 to 30 minutes were found suitable. It is. also found of advantage in preventing dirt, to keep the gas passages as hot as possible, and, in order to do this, the outlet passages 3,3, may be led close to the gas passages, so that the Walls of these latter are heated by conduction through the intervening brickwork. Such an arrangement of the outlet passages is indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 in dotted lines, in connectionwith one set or pair of the gas passages 6, 7, the portions 10 of these outlet passagesdescending close to the gas passages 6 and"? beforeconnecting with the chimney conduit 11.

In the modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 4, a small passage 12 con nects the air supply passage 5 with the chamber of the valve 9 in the gas supply passage.

air can flow from the pasthe small passage 12 into the gas passage 7, which is idle. When the valve is reversed thea'ir through' 12 flows into the passage 6, which is then idle.' This device therefore provides for the supply of a small quantity of air into whichever of the gas passages is idle. It is found that the introduction of this small quantity of air into the idle gas passage, has an important effect in removing the dirt, by causing it to burn. he passage 12 is restricted so that the quantity of air admitted into the gas passages, is not suflicient to reach the furnace, or at any rate to reach it in such quan tity asto affect its working. The valve 9 is shown diagrammatically and means for operating it, because such valves are common in reversing furnaces and the sage 5 through plane as in gle set of passages or any number In the position ofthe valve shown the drawing,

construction of the valve forms no part of the invention. r he arrangement of furnaces, ports, passages, and valves may be Widely modified without departing from the essence of the invention, and the furnace may have a sinof such sets, the essential feature of the invention being the alternate use of a pair of gas passages, each passage being in turn used to supply gas to the furnace while the other passage remains idle and may if desired have air introduced into it. l w claiIn:-

,lJIn a furnace for heating which glass is a pair of gas passages adaptedto supply gas to one inlet port of the furnace, a gas supply conduit capable of conducting gas to the said passages, and a' single "passage continuously supplying air to the'said port pots from of the furnace, of a valve adapted to connect one of the gas passages to the gassuppl conduit and simultaneously therewith disconnect the other one'therefromso'that it" will remain idle, and vice versa.

n a furnace for heating pots from which glass is drawn, the combination with a pair of gas passages adapted to supply to the furnace, and a gas supply con duit capable of conducting gas passages and a valve adaptedto connect one of the gas passages to the gas supply con duitand simultaneously therewith disconnect the other one therefrom, and vice versa, of an air supplypassageand a passage con nected with the said air supply passage and adapted to supply a small quantity of air to the particulargassupply passage which for the time being is disconnected from the gas supply. r "1 In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the'presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM WINDLE rnanivaroiv.

Witnesses:

JNo. DICKINSON, BARTEN FLETCHER.

drawn, the combination with to the said 

